A 2025 Assessment: The Emerging Artificial Intelligence Threat

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has been alarmingly rapid since 2022. Before then, AI was considered little more than a plaything or a novelty.  But now it is transforming businesses, wiping out entire categories of office jobs, and threatening human liberty. The first practical release of the Claude AI code-writing tool just by itself has completely transformed the global software industry. I’m talking about a Buggy Whips level of industry transformation. As a personal illustration, I should mention that my youngest son is now in his third year at a university here in The American Redoubt, studying for a degree in computer science. His prospects for finding a job when he graduates in 2027 have dropped dramatically since his freshman year. I’m now advising him to pursue a career in software design rather than programming. Otherwise, he’ll be another buggy whip maker.

AI has also changed the blogosphere.  It has been estimated that by the end of 2026, nearly 90 percent of blogs will be written by AI. The Internet will be flooded with AI-generated schlock, and it will become more difficult to differentiate between that which is human-written and AI-written. The same is happening with video blogs (“vlogs”). In another year, it will be hard to tell if a vlog host is a real living, breathing individual, or something AI-generated.  By the way, don’t worry about SurvivalBlog. We shall stalwartly remain one of the last of the Old School blogs. Take that, you Clankers!Continue reading“A 2025 Assessment: The Emerging Artificial Intelligence Threat”

SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. We also mention companies located in the American Redoubt region that are of interest to preppers and survivalists. Today, I’m offering an eclectic assortment of videos from inside the American Redoubt region. These describe and show geography, historical tidbits, amazing scenery, wildlife, and some genuine characters. Pictured above is Salmon, Idaho, circa 1940.

Idaho

A video of a visit to Salmon, Idaho by some sans-clue eastern RVers: The People Behind a Town Cut Off From the World.  (“A ‘claim’, what is that?”)

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An update from the Good Simple Living vlogging (and now podcasting) family in North Idaho: Years of Firewood, Full Winter Prep In the Northern Rockies + Big Changes for Our Family.

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Let The Adventure Begin – Idaho BDR.

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An interesting video: Run the Rails — Following 30 miles of Abandoned Idaho Railway.

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“A lot of country music is sad. I think most art comes out of poverty and hard times. It applies to music. Three chords and the truth – that’s what a country song is. There is a lot of heartache in the world.” – Willie Nelson

Preparedness Notes for Monday — August 18, 2025

On August 18, 1564, Spanish King Philip II joined the Council of Trent.

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August 18, 1769: A lightning strike on the Bastion of San Nazaro in Brescia, Italy, ignited 90 tons of gunpowder. The resulting explosion killed 3,000 people.

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August 18th is also the birthday of Meriwether Lewis, an American explorer, soldier, politician, and public administrator who is best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

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Today’s feature piece was written by SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor Tom Christianson.

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We are seeking entries for Round 120 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $960,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 120 ends on September 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.

Mossberg 590RM Pump Shotgun, by Thomas Christianson

Mossberg continues to innovate tactical shotgun design with their new 590RM Pump Shotgun. The “R” in the name refers to the ambidextrous rotary safety that gives the shotgun more AR-like ergonomics and handling features. The “M” refers to the 10-round detachable magazine that allows faster reloads.

Other key features include a Magpul pistol grip with a storage compartment in the grip, a buttstock adjustable for LOP, a recoil pad, and a heat shield over the barrel.

The model that I tested also features a Picatinny rail for mounting optics, adjustable Magpul MBUS3 two-piece pop-up sights, and a front M-Lok adapter by the take-down nut (the take-down nut is the part that would be known as the magazine cap in a 590 with a standard tubular magazine).

For those who train often with AR-pattern firearms, the familiarity and friendly ergonomics of the 590RM will be a real asset.Continue reading“Mossberg 590RM Pump Shotgun, by Thomas Christianson”

Recipe of the Week: 

The following recipe for Raisin-Walnut Cookies is from SurvivalBlog reader R.E.. This recipe makes about 6 dozen cookies.

Ingredients
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 cups raisins
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 cup vegetable shortening
  • 2 cups white granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 large eggs
  • 4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon table salt
  • 1.5 cups chopped walnuts
Directions
  1. In a small saucepan, combine water and raisins, bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool completely.
  2. While the raisin mixture is cooling, stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.
  3. After raisins have cooled completely, stir baking soda into cooled raisins and set aside.
  4. Preheat your oven to 350°F.
  5. Cream together shortening and sugar until well blended. Add vanilla, eggs, and raisin mixture and blend well.
  6. Add flour mixture to wet ingredients and blend until just a small amount of white flour is still visible. Add the nuts and blend just until no white flour is visible and nuts are evenly distributed throughout the mixture.
  7. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets, allowing room for cookies to spread. Bake at 350°F for 15 minutes.
  8. Remove from the oven and cool on a cookie sheet for 5-10 minutes before placing the cookies on a cooling rack to cool completely.

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Do you have a well-tested recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? In this weekly recipe column, we place emphasis on recipes that use long-term storage foods, recipes for wild game, dutch oven recipes, slow cooker recipes, and any recipes that use home garden produce. If you have any favorite recipes, then please send them via e-mail. Thanks!

Graphic of the Week:

Today’s graphic:  A map showing that 95% of ocean plastic originates from 10 rivers in Asia and Africa. (Graphic courtesy of Reddit.)

The thumbnail below is click-expandable.

 

 

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Please send your graphics or graphics links to JWR. (Either via e-mail or via our Contact form.) Any graphics that you send must either be your own creation or uncopyrighted.

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“I prefer to analogize the global currency milieu as a Leper Colony. The fiat currencies are all lepers. They are all dying slow, painful deaths. Some of them are just dying more slowly than others. The Swiss Franc and the U.S. Dollar are two of the healthier lepers, with a few more fingers and toes than their neighbors. But inevitably they will also die.” – James Wesley, Rawles

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — August 17, 2025

On this day in 1870, Hazard Stevens and P. B. Van Trump made the first ascent of Mount Rainier, Washington.

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August 14, 1952: The word “fallout,” referring to radioactive particles carried into the atmosphere after a nuclear explosion, was first used in The New York Times.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 120 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
  2. A Peak Refuel “Wasatch Pack” variety of 60 servings of premium freeze-dried breakfasts and dinners in individual meal pouches — a whopping 21,970 calories, all made and packaged in the USA — courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  3. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses. Their course catalog now includes their latest Survival Gunsmithing course.
  4. HSM Ammunition in Montana is providing a $350 gift certificate. The certificate can be used for any of their products.
  5. Preparedness author Jennifer Rader is offering a $200 purchase credit for any of her eight published food storage and medical preparedness books, including the Good Eats at the TEOTWAWKI Café series, the Armageddon Pharmacy series, and the Medicine Surrounds Us series.

Second Prize:

  1. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  2. A $269 retail value survival-ready power package from Solar Power Lifestyle. This includes two Solar Power Lifestyle 25W Portable Solar Panels, plus a $150 gift card to use for any purchase at solarpowerlifestyle.com.
  3. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from TOUGHGRID.com (a $287 value).
  4. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of gun purchasing privacy!

Third Prize:

  1. A Berkey Light water filter, courtesy of USA Berkey Filters (a $305 value),
  2. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.
  3. A $200 credit from Military Surplus LLC that can be applied to purchase and/or shipping costs for any of their in-stock merchandise, including full mil-spec ammo cans, Rothco clothing and field gear, backpacks, optics, compact solar panels, first aid kits, and more.
  4. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

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More than $960,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 120 ends on September 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.

 

 

Soft Cheeses Made Without Rennet, by M.J.E.

There are nearly endless kinds of cheeses. Among the variables that result in so much diversity are the mammal that the milk is from (most commonly cattle, sheep, goats, reindeer, yaks, and water buffaloes), what these animals were eating at the time they were milked, and how the milk is processed. Some people swear by raw milk rather than pasteurized, but raw milk may contain harmful organisms, and organisms that might adversely affect the cheese-making process. On the other hand, raw milk has a slightly different battery of enzymes that can affect the final cheese. Ultra-pasteurized milk, while shelf-stable, does not work for cheese making.

The first time I made cheese, I was craving Indian food. I wanted saag paneer (spiced greens with cheese cubes), but I didn’t have any of the required cheese. Paneer is quick and easy to make and takes no special equipment or ingredients, so I figured I’d give it a try. The version I made used two cups of milk and two teaspoons of lemon juice. I was impatient and didn’t bother to press it into solid cubes, but it tasted great and satisfied my cravings.Continue reading“Soft Cheeses Made Without Rennet, by M.J.E.”

JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR:

Camouflage Pun Meme

Meme Text:

I Went to Buy Some Camouflage Clothes Today… …But I Couldn’t Find Any

Notes From JWR: Do you have a meme idea? Just e-mail me the concept, and I’ll try to assemble it. And if it is posted then I’ll give you credit. Thanks!

Permission to repost memes that I’ve created is granted, provided that credit to SurvivalBlog.com is included.

 

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“ Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” – 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 (KJV) 

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — August 16, 2025

On August 16, 1777, militiamen of Vermont’s Green Mountain Boys, the New Hampshire Militia, and volunteers from Massachusetts defeated British forces at the Battle of Bennington, during the American Revolutionary War.  From the InfoGalactic Wiki: “The Bennington flag is a version of the U.S. flag associated with the American Revolution Battle of Bennington, from which it derives its name. Its distinguishing feature is the inclusion of a large ’76’ in the canton, a reference to the year 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was signed.”

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On August 16th, 1841, President John Tyler vetoed a second attempt by Congress to re-establish the Bank of the United States. In response, angry supporters of the bank gathered outside the White House and burned an effigy of Tyler.

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On August 16, 1891, President Benjamin Harrison attended the dedication of the Bennington Battle Monument in Bennington, Vermont.

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We need more entries for Round 120 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $960,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 120 ends on September 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.

My Grandfather’s Wisdom: Ernest E. Rawles

JWR’s Introductory Note: This is an expanded edition of a piece that I posted in SurvivalBlog in November, 2005. I have added more excerpts to bring it from 730 words to 2,300 words, to provide better context on his times, surroundings, and circumstances.

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My paternal grandfather, Ernest Everett Rawles (1897-1985), was a largely self-educated man. Coming from a pioneer family (his father and grandfather came out west by covered wagon in 1857), he had a profoundly practical outlook on life. Ernest grew up on a 6,000-acre sheep ranch near Boonville, in the Anderson Valley of Mendocino County, California. Part of the Rawles Ranch had groves of enormous redwood trees. His family lived life at its basics: The change of the seasons, hunting and trapping, hard work in foul weather, fence-building, wood cutting, lambing, sheep shearing, and the constant state of war with the predators that annually killed dozens and sometimes hundreds of lambs. It was a hard life, but it had its satisfactions. The following are some brief excerpts from his oral history:

I liked growing up on the ranch. We ran livestock on the land, and cut quite a bit of timber. We had horses, cattle, pigs, and Merino sheep. Lots of sheep. Two or three thousand at a time were run by the various members of the family. [To protect the sheep] we had to contend with the coyotes, mountain lions, and bear.”

I shot my first deer when I was 12. I got it down in the hay field, right in front of the house. I was going to try to go hunting with a .22. I knew there was a deer there. My dad said, “You’re not going to start shootin’ deer with a .22!” and he got the old .44-40 [Winchester Model 1873] out. I remember I had to sit down and put it acrost my knees. I was that small. The .44 was pretty heavy, anyway.

My father had a muzzle-loading rifle that he hunted with for quite a while. That’s where he got the nickname ‘Muz.’ He kept using the muzzle-loading rifle while other people had more modern [metallic cartridge] rifles. He had other guns, of course, too.Continue reading“My Grandfather’s Wisdom: Ernest E. Rawles”

Editors’ Prepping Progress

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make both long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug-out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year.  We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in your e-mailed letters. We post many of those — or excerpts thereof — in the Odds ‘n Sods Column or in the Snippets column. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

Jim Reports:

We took a trip to town on Wednesday to stock up on grain for our livestock. I also bought some pipe for a plumbing project and a very sturdy steel Tarter brand sheep feeder. (A manger.)  Lily wasn’t thrilled with the color that it was powder-coated, but it looks like it will last for decades. Now I need to get busy and use some scrap lumber spare roofing sheet steel to make a rain cover for it.

I cut, hauled. and split another cord of wood.  Our stay-at-home daughter helped with the stacking.

Now, Lily’s part of the report…

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”